The following relates generally to wireless communication, and more specifically to channel reservation techniques for millimeter wave (mmW) systems.
Wireless communications systems are widely deployed to provide various types of communication content such as voice, video, packet data, messaging, broadcast, and so on. These systems may be capable of supporting communication with multiple users by sharing the available system resources (e.g., time, frequency, and power). Examples of such multiple-access systems include code division multiple access (CDMA) systems, time division multiple access (TDMA) systems, frequency division multiple access (FDMA) systems, and orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA) systems, (e.g., a Long Term Evolution (LTE) system, or a New Radio (NR) system). A wireless multiple-access communications system may include a number of base stations or access network nodes, each simultaneously supporting communication for multiple communication devices, which may be otherwise known as user equipment (UE). A base station may communicate with UEs on downlink channels (e.g., for transmissions from a base station to a UE) and uplink channels (e.g., for transmissions from a UE to a base station).
Wireless communication devices may communicate via a wireless medium (e.g., in a particular frequency band of a radio frequency spectrum band). In some cases, a portion of the spectrum may be licensed such that a single operator manages transmissions on that medium (e.g., a cellular network operator that has exclusive rights to transmit in a particular frequency range in a particular area). In some cases, a portion of the spectrum may be licensed, but shared between multiple operators. In other cases, a portion of the spectrum may be unlicensed such that no particular entity may exclusively transmit on the wireless medium (e.g., the 2.4 GHz frequency band used by certain Wi-Fi devices). As the number of wireless devices operating in shared or unlicensed spectrum increases, it is increasingly important for the many devices that may access the wireless medium use the wireless medium efficiently.